In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic caused a mandatory shift from in-person instruction to online learning for many young children. Teachers needed to adjust to virtual teaching, children were isolated from their peers, and parents played a bigger role in learning during the pandemic. In 2021, the shift back to in-person learning occurred. Research has…

This article attempts to address the challenge that preschool teachers face, when integrating a specific content area, science, with play. The study builds on the theoretical framework of Play-Responsive Early Childhood Education and Care (PRECEC), in which teaching, and play are understood as a mutual activity. In this mutual activity, teachers…

The quality of early childhood experiences is crucial to a child's development and educational success. Yet few early childhood education and care services in the world today offer a consistently high level of educational quality. In particular, educational quality depends on the context's characteristics. The aim of this study was therefore to…

Early childhood education provides an important arena for fostering valuable habits and practices for sustainability. This paper contributes to understanding the educator's role within early childhood environmental education in foraging and gardening practices. What pedagogical approaches does the teacher provide to foster the children's…

While research consistently demonstrates that young children learn best through play and social interactions, this developmental insight is not often reflected in current classroom curricula. Through action research, I examined how a play-based kindergarten environment could impact student writing and writing engagement. This article specifically…

The purpose of this study is to explore the relationships among preschool teacher's self-efficacy, teacher-child interaction, and peer interaction, and tried to find out any differences occurred based on young children's emotional intelligence. The research participants of the study were 68 preschool teachers and 210 preschool-aged children.…

Education researchers and practitioners have been exploring for years the key factors impacting children's academic engagement. Still, relatively little is known about the role of children's social cognition in their academic engagement. Accordingly, the current study focuses on the potential indirect associations between young children's social…

Over the past three years, there have been changes in learning observed due to COVID-19 pandemic-related disruptions that affected young learners who needed support during instruction, raising concerns about their learning progress. As such, this qualitative phenomenological study explored and described the parent and teacher perspectives on the…

Self-regulation is arguably one of the most crucial predictors of school readiness, academic achievement, and lifelong well-being. While educators in the prior-to-school years have a pivotal role to play in stimulating growth in early self-regulation, less is known about their knowledge and practices in this area. This interview study was…

This paper provides a discourse analysis of 12 Swedish sexuality education texts intended for preschool practitioners and published between 1969 and 2021. Using Fairclough's framework, we identify three discourses about children's sexual play in relation to children's sexual agency in the texts: child sexuality as encouraged and entangled with…

The transition to and through kindergarten is consequential for the academic, social, and emotional wellbeing of children. Policies and practices are in place to smooth that transition. Researchers are working to understand which practices work best and for whom, particularly as the student population in U.S. schools continues to diversify. In…

Teachers' noticing of students' mathematical thinking plays an important role in supporting student learning. Yet little is known about how online professional development (PD)--a growing setting for PD in the USA--can cultivate this noticing. Here, we explore the potential of using two online tools for engaging video to support K-2 teachers'…

Research Findings: The current study aimed to explore the independent and interactive roles of individual student-teacher relationship quality and classroom-level self-regulatory supports in kindergarten for children's self-regulatory skills in kindergarten and first grade. We did so using multiple measures of children's self-regulation, drawn…

In recent times, engineering education has increasingly emerged as a valued kindergarten practice. Engineering teaching in play brings challenges for Chinese kindergarten teachers. An educational experiment (EE) was conducted to help Chinese kindergarten teachers face this challenge. Qualitative data including video data and interview transcripts…

The relation between mathematical achievement in early childhood and future academic success is well established. However, our knowledge about the effect of instruction on mathematical performance is often reliant upon self-report or videotaped instruction measures and standardized achievement assessments. The current study uses teacher audio…